2013-09-03 - You Are My Responsibility Now
Stark is in the meeting room. He didn't want to be in his lab, too many breakable things. And boy did Rogers look angry! He fidgets. Two days to recover from the 'incident', and he still hasn't spoken to Pepper. Yep, he's avoiding her and she's avoiding him. It works out that way for now. He smiles tensely when Cap comes into the meeting room. "Hey Rogers." Steve comes walking into the meeting room. He's looks at Stark for a moment, "Stark." He says as he moves over to look out the nice view. He's apparently waiting for something. Stark refuses to crack under the pressure! He moves to flop into a large leather chair and rocks it back and forth a bit. After a little while, he starts to spin it around and around and around...... "Alright, I'm cracking...get it out Steve." Yes, Stark is still spinning around. Steve Rogers makes a snorting noise but doesn't speak for several moments more. Then he turns, "So you're some type of super soldier now? Well super billionaire. YOu care to explain how all this happened and if the projects still ongoing." "Disconnected. Least this one, wouldn't be surprised if others were secretly being ran. I didn't know about this one till Dr. Maya Hansen called me in. The project was leaked to a terrorist, Mallen." The one Iron Man killed on Capital Hill. "I tried to stop him in Texas, remote controlled Iron Man suit via my brain waves. It was a little glitchy, just like the chip in my spine. I was crippled most of the time," Stark says with a bitter smirk. Stark stops spinning in the chair, just doing a semi-circle, back and forth now. "It failed, utterly and almost cost innocent people their lives. So I raided her program, re-programmed it to fit my needs, and told her to inject me. She did. I survived. Only way to stop him," the Avenger says, though he wasn't an Avenger at the time. "Later found out she leaked it on purpose because the U.S. government was cutting funding. She bit off more than she could chew and called me in to clean up the mess. Top security, beyond even you. She was trialed and convicted of being a traitor to the U.S., and I turned one of my good friends in." Stark's eyes darken. "She's in prison now, one of the most brillant minds in the world. And her dream? To cure cancer. That was the entire purpose of the research in the first place. She conned them, hook, line, and sinker to invest in a super soldier program in which her ultimate purpose was to cure cancer. By the way, she did it. But the program is so malliable and considered such high security clearance that I dare not finish her research. Tried at first, failed to make it safe for disbursement." Stark then shrugs. "So I can do lots of stuff, a modern day super soldier. I have the ability to create hundreds or thousands of them." He laughs then, the sound bitter, "I wouldn't. Duh." He is still swishing that chair back and forth in that semi-circle, feet staying where they are. Fidgeting in hyperactive mode. It betrays how stressed he is, and how unhappy he is in telling this story. Steve Rogers looks at Stark, "Course it's above my pay grade. They knew I would shut it down. Nothing good every comes out of the super soldier program. People die and things go wrong. Stark what is done is done. But you have to destroy this. Do you realize just exactly how many super soldier programs there's been? None of them have been successful." "This one was. But yes, it could be used for great evil. But I'm not just 'shutting me down'." Stark's jaw tightens, "This stuff /just/ saved Pepper's life." Her fingers are tapping the arm of the chair now as his irritation beings to show. The program itself is already shut down. It's locked up tight and buried under millions of miles of paperwork. I have a copy of the program, and if Maya was....well, she's brillant. Even without her work, she could recreate it. She's in prison right now though. She's not evil Steve, she was just...misguided." Stark moves to stand up in a suddenly rush of movement, faster than he should be able to if he was 'normal'. He paces to the window, arms crossing over his chest, and fingers tapping his arm. "It drives me crazy having it. The chance to cure cancer, I could...likely cure all the diseases in the world with it. Actually, I /could/. But people could warp it, twist it....so it stays hidden until I magically get smarter, or Maya somehow gets out to /fix/ its danger level. Well, if she thinks about the consequences first." Stark sighs. "I know the weight of what I'm carrying, I know what it could do, the good and bad. And I kept my mouth shut tight. Had to." What if Steve got mind controlled again? It has been some time since Stark thought about that. "I'll lock it down deeper, hide it. So even if someone finds out about it, they won't find it." Steve Rogers strikes the table with his own strength. "Damn it Stark. Stop and think, for every success there's been hundreds of Deaths. There's also been insane villains. Each time they promise the ultimate human. It never works." "Mallen was the first human test subject, he survived. I'm the second. Pepper is the third. All successes." Stark looks back at Steve. "And don't you dare tell the U.S. Government," he advises. "They shut the program down due to finances or danger levels or whatever the fuck was their reason. Leave it shut down." He then moves to flop down. "So, what do you want me to do? Shut me down? I'm altered on a /genetic/ level Steve. Even with it shut down, I'm never going to be /normal/. My mind is like a computer, my bones are hollow, and it could be dangerous if the Extermis wasn't active in me." Well, unless he found a way to fill them up. "I'm no longer 'base line human'. Part machine at this point. So what do you want me to do? Destroy research that could in the future save humanity? Destory research that let me build the current day Iron Man suit, that gave me my legs back, saved Pepper's life? How the hell do you make it sound so easy?!" Steve Rogers frowns, "You call a insane man you had to put down a success." He shakes his head, "No I'm saying no more. You and Pepper are it. We don't need this out there. We don't need another Weapon X program gone rouge, We don't need another Nuke. We don't need another Red Skull." "He was mentally unstable before the serum was used Steve! So yes, medically he was! But he was a fucking domestic terrorist before he ever got the serum!" Stark shakes his head, and turns away, "Not sure who Nuke is, but I'm not creating Red Skulls. I've watched...quite a number of people die I could save. Visit a hospital for a charity and I watch them die Steve. Using it on Pepper...wasn't an easy decision. She's not even talking to me," he ends quietly. "I had to do a quick programming job, I don't even know the long-term effects. I didn't...she wouldn't want to be...altered like me. Pepper never cared for superhero lifestyle. I just...," Stark had risen to his feet and presses his palms against the window sill. "I couldn't lose her. Not like Sawyer, not again. I couldn't...go through that again." Steve Rogers shakes his head, "There's a reason there' s only been one me. Everyone else died or went insane." He says smashing his fist on the table again accidentally destroy the projector. "Nothing ever works out right with a super soldier project. I don't care which version. For everything we stand for, no more. Pepper's the last one okay?" "The serum is safe and stable, but that doesn't mean the people using it are Steve. Maya's work is sound. But ya...ya, I don't plan to use it again. Like I said, too dangerous. Just not in the insanity factor." Stark runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Though I guess I could program it to cause insanity....," a pause. "Sorry." The mad scientist in him, he has moments. Steve Rogers frowns, "Okay, I'll put it like this. You start to loose it like the rest. I will come after you. I will not allow something that can be traced back to me if not in function but in spirit cause a friend of mine to loose what makes them them." "I won't Rogers. If I lose it, it won't be because of this. Believe me. This shit I can handle...," a bitter smile at that from Stark. "It's the other stuff I can't." And then he starts to head for the door. He pauses before he says, "We should get pizza and...soda sometime together again, like old times." It was beer back then, but Stark hasn't been seen drinking since he came back from California. Steve Rogers shakes his head, "Your buying."